CEO, Joe Sleppy, focused on Capacitech's recent successes in producing working samples of the cable-based-capacitor technology and receiving stronger commitment from various partners in commercialization activities.

"Presenting Capacitech is one of the most fun things I get to do. It is the opportunity to express my passion and always knowing there are future presentations to give holds me accountable for our progress!" ~CEO, Joe Sleppy

After the presentation, Sleppy was kept occupied by the audience members asking additional questions and expressing their curiosity around the technology. Capacitech's first place win did include a $1,500 cash award, but Sleppy explains the participation was for the exposure to the high quality people in the audience. Just another example of how you never know who is listening...

The sample shown above is a 5cm long device with about 1F of capacitance total rated at 1.6V. The positive electrode of the capacitor is the core wire with the negative electrode being the piece of wire toward the top of the image pointing out to the side.

The work has brought Capacitech to the final stages of product development. At the beginning of the project the focus was on converting lab scale processes to mass manufacturing friendly processes. This has been achieved. The next steps are to further optimize conditions so marketing specifications can be met with consistency. Specifically, the next steps are to increase the voltage rating so the product can be used outside of low voltage super capacitors and electrolytic capacitors thus further opening up the market!

We have worked tirelessly to prove this cable-capacitor technology can be mass manufactured at a price affordable to the industry. Now we need to tune the system further to ensure consistent results. The technology works and we have a few more tricks up our sleeve to make it even better. It is only a matter of time until we are ready to run rapid manufacturing runs after final optimization steps are taken! 

— Joe Sleppy, CEO

As a demonstration, Capacitech retrofitted a laptop power supply replacing the large capacitor in the circuit with a Capacitech cable based capacitor. See the photo sequence below:

Original Power Supply

Look at the large black capacitor in the middle of the product. That is what Capacitech’s cable-capacitor will replace.

Modified Power Supply

Notice the additional space made available on the printed circuit board (PCB) by using a cable-capacitor! This entire product could be reduced in length by several inches!

Re-Modified

The cable-capacitor is flexible and thus offers a wide range of design flexibilities enabling new levels of creativity in electronics design.

An Optimized Design

After replacing the original capacitor with Capacitech’s cable-capacitor technology. We showed how that space can be used to shorten the device by about 2 inches. The white line on the left represents how long the power supply circuit originally was.

Two years ago Capacitech Energy was off to the races fresh off a business competition win called "The Joust" and nothing has been the same again!

This year as Thor-Ore (1st Place) and Soar Aerospace (2nd place) competed for the winning prize of cash and services, Capacitech was invited as entertainment between presentations. CEO, Joe Sleppy, took to the stage to discuss recent progress and update made with Capacitech such as the STTR grant. He also spoke to the value that the Joust added to Capacitech.

The Joust was the first public outlet that we described what we were thinking and the applications our technology had. We are blessed that the judges thought we were on to something special and have spent every day since proving they made the right decision!

— Joe Sleppy, CEO

Winning the Joust is not only about the recognition from the community and the money, but more importantly the services offered. These services include legal services from Burr Forman which Capacitech has leveraged in Intellectual Property negotiations with the University of Central Florida.

CEO, Joe Sleppy, spent his day with a nationally diverse crowd of high school students, teachers, and administrators advocating and teaching entrepreneurship. The event, Ford’s National Next Generation Learning Confrence, also included a focus on STEM projects including apps and consumer goods.

“Capacitech is doing well by doing good” Sleppy says. “I strongly believe in giving back and investing effort into educational programs that develop world-class students.”

Sleppy spoke to a small group of student ambassadors from Pinellas County who represent their high school’s academy (a program to develop professional skills in students) about entrepreneruship, engineering, and a good mind set to have while going into college. Later, Sleppy spoke to many of the students presenting their STEM project which was organized in a tradeshow like format. During lunch, Sleppy was invited to give the keynote address of the confrence which focused on the impact of entrepreneurship.

According to Sleppy “entrepreneurship is how the world gets better as innovators focus on reducing the pains/problems experienced in the world.”

Capacitech has been awarded a Phase 1 STTR Grant from the National Science Foundation worth $225k. This funding will be used to put the finishing touches on the cable-capacitor technology which will help electronics manufacturing companies reduce costs. This grant is awarded in partnership with the University of Central Florida's Nanotechnology Science Center. The partnership will be headed up by co-founder and inventor Dr. Jayan Thomas on the university side and by Dr. Isaiah Oladeji on the company side.

Together, UCF and Capcaitech will commercialize this technology with the help of this grant and plans to launch pilot programs with partners such as Ditek later this year.

Spring 2018 Capacitech Energy will participate in Phase 2 of the VentureWell E-Team program. This is a program that grants $20k to each team and provides them with insight, connections, training, and motivation. The program is to fund and train student inventors and entrepreneurs who want to address important problems in the world through new technology-based ventures. It provides funding, immersive workshops, and specialized coaching to student STEM innovators to help them move their inventions into the marketplace.

The FireSpring Fund Accelerator has accepted Capacitech Energy into the spring 2017 cohort. Acceptance to this accelerator includes a $25k convertible note investment with $200k of potential follow on funding, membership to Orlando’s co-working space Canvs, and a plethora of exposure to the community as well as the community’s top mentors. At the end of the program, Capacitech will present at the Firespring Demo Day.

“Customer Discvoery never stops” said by many people, many times. The customer discovery process continues for Capacitech as they participated and graduated from the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program. The program was based in Detroit where Capacitech engaged with other companies and interviewed potential customers during the program’s kickoff. Following the kickoff, Capacitech returned home to Orlando to interview an additional 100 customers. “This is where our business model really started to come together” said CEO Joe Sleppy. Capacitech had gone through ~40 business models before attending I-Corps.

By the end of the National I-Corps program, Capacitech had identified their path forward. A path that is much more feasible, realistic, and attainable than past business models. This path is one focused on selling cable-capacitors to small and medium sized electronics manufacturing companies to mimic/replace traditional capacitors being used in electronics. By doing this, electronics manufacturing companies will see a drop in inventory costs (costs associated to ordering, inspecting, and managing capacitors). “This business model is a great first step for us” said Joe Sleppy “it allows us to prove the technology, generate value for a real customer, and generate revenue which will help fund our future endeavors such as electric vehicles.”

The University of Central Florida is sending Joe Sleppy, CEO of Capacitech Energy, to New York City to participate in a entrepreneurship training camp hosted by Blackstone and taught by the prestigious program, TechStarts. Out of the ~40 companies that will be showcased at this event, 7 will have the opportunity to present to an audience of business owners, investors, and entre-curious individuals. Turns out, Capacitech has been selected to be one of the presenting companies!

Joe Sleppy was joined with another UCF startup led by Dr. David Nash called IDem. Together they will explore New York, compete, learn about startups, and hopefully will meet David Nash (founder of TechStars) and also Steve Schwarzman (CEO of Blackstone)!

It is spring 2017 and thus is business competition season in Orlando. Capacitech was selected as a finalist to compete in the Rollins College Business Plan Competiton with the business model developed from the I-Corps program. Capacitech’s founders Joe Sleppy and Dr. Jayan Thomas will present to a panel of judges with hopes to bring home the grand prize of $25k with an additional $25k investment from Ven-Vello.

After competing in the finals, Capacitech was awarded 4th place out of 66 companies which was good enough for a $2,500 award. See the pitch in the video below!

Joe Sleppy presents Capacitech Energy to the audience and judges at the 2017 Rollins College Business Plan Competiton

After winning the Business Model Competition at the Univertsity of Central Florida, Capacitech is headed to Washington state to represent UCF and compete in the International Business Model Competition (IBMC). “This is so exciting as it the first time I will be able to display Capacitech outside of the central Florida region” says CEO Joe Sleppy.

The IBMC is a competition focused on Lean Startup Methodology and the Business Model Canvas. Students and companies present to a panel of judges the process their business had gone through to vet their ideas. Capacitech represented UCF well but was not selected to move past quarter finals. S

Capacitech Energy LLC has been accepted to one of Central Florida’s top accelerator programs, VentureScaleUp (VSU)! VSU is a scaleup accelerator that provides high-growth entrepreneurs access to role models that have built startups that have scaled. The program connects entrepreneurs to a network of experienced mentors, advisors, investors, and educators to advanced startups to the next level.

Capacitech’s participation in this program helped increase exposure to the community, prepare CEO Joe Sleppy to raise capital, and most importantly built strong relationships with their mentors such as Richard Fox. Perhaps the best take away from this program was the entrepreneurial trainning in how to communicate complex ideas to different audiences such as investors, customers, grant reviewers, and other stakeholders in one’s business.

The MegaWatt Competition, now called the CleanTech Competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy (DoE) is a competition focused on clean technology (hence the name). Capacitech was selected as a top ten finalist from many applicants to present in Orlando, FL. After CEO Joe Sleppy presented to the judges how Capacitech's cable-based-capacitor could help reduce the weight of batteries that soldiers carry in the field as well as how the technology could impact renewable energy systems like wind turbines and solar power.

After ~50 customer discovery interviews and several different business models (business model canvas), Capacitech Energy LLC graduates the University of Central Florida (UCF) I-Corps Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) . This program is designed to teach and push startup teams to vet their entrepreneurial idea by talking to potential customers. Capacitech received $2,600 from NSF to fund travel for customer discovery activities.

This program dramatically helped Capacitech identify a path to revenue and helped Capacitech focus on more specific customers segments such as the Information Technology Uninterruptible Power Supply Market and Electronics Manufacturing companies.

Spring, 2016 Capacitech Energy wins the UCF Business Plan Competition known as the "UCF Joust" for $12k in cash and over $50k worth of professional services including Burr Forman legal services and accounting services from BDO!